Never Change
by LadySophieKitty
Summary: Hermione wants to impress Harry by changing how she looks at a party, but when she does, Harry isn't impressed. “You’re beautiful, Hermione, just the way you are.”


A/N- Just a fluffy one-shot I've had in mind for a while.

Never Change

Hermione growled dangerously. Anyone in hearing distance would have cowered away in fear. Of course, no one was in hearing distance, because the thing Hermione was growling at was her own hair.

To everyone who knew Hermione very well, this would seem odd, for she was not the type to care about her appearance. In fact, her bushy brown hair was proof of that. However, on this particular occasion, Hermione cared. For this was a special occasion, celebrating many things. The most important thing was the fact that it had been four years since Voldemort had been defeated. The second was that it was Harry's twenty-first birthday, which was why Hermione was so worried about her appearance.

A couple nights ago she had a dream where she was all dressed up, and so was Harry. Hermione had been wearing a long, black sleeveless dress with a bit of a slit, and high-heeled shoes. Her hair was tamed and curled, with a bow to make sure it had stayed out of her face. If this had been the only thing that had happened, Hermione would have snorted and pretended she never had that dream. But what happened next was what caused her change of mind. She and Harry were talking, laughing as usual, when Harry commented on how beautiful she looked. Then he swooped down, and kissed her. Of course, that was when she woke up. Everyone woke up at the best parts of dreams. That was part of what made them so maddening.

Hermione had fallen in love with Harry along with the rest of the world; the only difference was that to everyone else it was just a celebrity crush. To her, it was the real thing. Still, she didn't say anything. How could she? Harry seemed to have no interest in her in a romantic way or with anyone really. He seemed to be the type who liked to be alone, which was a waste. Harry was funny, sweet, loyal, down to earth, and smart.

But now was her chance. To show that she could change, to show that Hermione could be beautiful too.

Hermione was embarrassed to admit this even to herself, so even though no one was around, she started making excuses.

"I hate my hair! It's untamable, always getting in my face, and unbearably hot! The first chance I get I'm going to cut it!" But it was going to have to do. Slowly she got out everything she needed, things that she borrowed from an enthusiastic Ginny. Hermione did the easiest things first, which was to put on the dress. It was a golden color, and glittery. Unlike her dream, it had sleeves, and fell just below her knees.

Not really her type, but guys seemed to swoon over Ginny when she wore it, so that was what she chose. On her feet she worse yellow high heels that were almost as high as the length between her thumb and pointer finger if Hermione stretched it out as far as she could.

Next she put on mascara and lip-gloss. The lip-gloss was easy, for it was exactly the same as using chap-stick. The mascara, on the other hand, was more difficult. Not only did Hermione keep on poking herself with it, but it got all over the place! At last, though, it was satisfactory. And then it was the most important part, her hair. Hermione took a small strand, and pulled it back with a clip. Then she got a blow dryer, and made her hair look wild. A nice wild though, not like usual.

At that moment, Crookshanks walked through the door, and jumped on Hermione's lap.

"Bad cat! I can't get any hair on my dress, or else Harry will never fall for me!" She scolded, throwing the cat off. Crookshanks gave her a glare, and then walked back out, tail high and straight.

At that moment, the doorbell rang.

"That must be Harry!" As another part of her genius plan, Hermione had asked Harry to pick her up, since Hermione was still learning how to drive. Of course, she could have walked, but then her plan wouldn't have worked as well.

"Ready?" Harry asked once Hermione opened the door. She stifled back a gasp. Hermione didn't know how he did it, but Harry had managed to look good in a pair of jeans and a casual T-shirt. Then he looked at her at last, and his jaw dropped. Hermione was satisfied at first, but then she spied something else in his expression. Was that disapproval? Hermione felt irritated. She had gone through all that time and effort to look nice for him, and he didn't even like it!

Well, it was too late for that now. Hermione would just have to go on with her plan, and still try to dazzle him with her appearance.

"Yes, all ready." She said, flashing her white teeth in a smile and then walking to his car.

Harry's car wasn't much, just a simple four-door sedan, fairly dull and colorless. However, ever inch was painstakingly clean and shiny, tweaked to perfection. Hermione always liked to think that he did it for her, but really Harry loved his car.

The drive to the party was fairly short, but seemed to drag on longer because nobody said anything. In fact, Harry's hand had been gripping the steering wheel rather tightly.

&&&

Hermione sat in a chair in the biggest room of Harry's house where the party was taking place. She had a glass of soda in her hand, and looked around. Everyone was dressed casually like Harry, so Hermione had gotten a lot of weird looks when she walked in, especially from those who knew her. And Harry didn't seem to like what she was doing.

Well, if plan one hadn't worked, it was time for plan two, which would contain even more un-Hermione like behavior: making Harry jealous.

Hermione got up quickly (too quickly; she was dizzy for a moment) and walked towards one of the very few strangers in the room, a guest of Cho Chang.

"Do you want to dance?" Hermione asked with a tiny giggle. Cho gave her an odd look, but Hermione didn't care what Cho thought.

"Er, sure." The guy replied looking uncomfortable. He led her out to the dance floor, and began to lead her.

"I'm Greg by the way." He said.

"Hermione." She replied through clenched teeth. Dancing in heels was harder than she thought. She had to concentrate very hard, but it was no use. On a twirl, Hermione tripped and feel on top of the drinks table. Her dress was soaked, her mascara was smearing, and she had embarrassed herself in front of a lot of people, especially Harry. He went over there to help her up, asking, "Are you okay?" but Hermione didn't answer, she pushed his arm away, took of the heels, and ran home, ignoring the fact that the sidewalk was burning hot.

By the time she reached her house, Hermione was even wetter because she was crying really hard. All she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and never see anyone ever again, or even leave her house. Her bedroom door opened.

"Hermione?" Harry's voice called out.

"Go away." Hermione said, cursing the day she gave Harry a key.

"What's wrong?" He asked, walking into the room.

Hermione quickly covered her face, not wanting Harry to see her tear and mascara stained face, but it was too late: he had seen.

"Look, it wasn't that big of a deal. You tripped just like everyone does. It wasn't your fault you fell on the drink table. And no one took a picture; it's not going to end up on the front page of the Daily Prophet tomorrow."

"It's not that." Hermione burst out before she could stop herself.

"Then what is it?"

She sighed. Hermione had been hoping that he wouldn't ask that, because she couldn't lie to him. He would know, he would see through her like he always did.

"I wanted to show you I could be beautiful, I wanted to show you that I could change."

"You're beautiful, Hermione, just the way you are."

"Don't lie to make me feel better."

"I'm not! You are beautiful, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise." Harry said, pushing her chin up so that she was looking in his eyes. Hermione could see how serious his eyes were. But that didn't make sense. Everyone knew she wasn't beautiful. Everyone knew that she had been the ugliest girl at school. It just hadn't mattered to her then.

"But that's not the only reason, is it?" Harry asked. He had seen right through her, just like she knew he would.

"No. I wanted to impress you, so that maybe you would realize that…" Hermione looked down. She couldn't face him, nor could she finish what she was saying. This was it. This would change their friendship forever. He would stop being friends with her, and all because she couldn't keep a secret. All because she couldn't lie to him.

Once again Harry lifted Hermione's chin up so that he could look at her, and Hermione waited for the words, "I don't think we should be friends anymore." Instead, Harry kissed her, and it was even better than it was in the dream, because this was real, and better than she ever imagined.

"Do you want to go back to the party?" He asked once he stopped.

"Yes. Let me just get changed." Hermione said, pushing him out the door. She quickly changed into her usual jeans and T-shirt, put her hair in a messy ponytail, took off all traces of make-up, and tossed everything in the closet. Hermione didn't even want to look at it ever again.

Harry was right; she didn't really need all that stuff. She was beautiful without it.

A/N- I hate stories where Hermione changes and everyone falls in love with her, so I thought I'd make it the opposite. I'm sorry it was mostly description, but I tend to do too much dialogue, so I wanted to try something else. I hope you liked it anyway, and you will tell me what you think in a review!

Sophie


End file.
